A TRIP TO 
CALIFORNIA IN 1853 





By WASHINGTON BAILEY 



d, 




Washington Bailey 



A TRIP TO 
CALIFORNIA IN 1853 



BY WASHINGTON BAILEY 



Recollections of a gold seeking trip 
by ox train across the plains and 
mountains by an old Illinois pioneer 



LeRoy Journal Printing Company 
1915 






3~93 
IS 



Mr. Bailey was induced by some 
of his friends to put in writing his 

recollections of an overland tri /> 
made by "prairie schooner" to Cal- 
ifornia, over si.vt if //ears ago. These 
recollection* ire re published in i he 
LeRoy Journal in series, and later 
collected and reprinted hereirith 
in book form on the solicitation <>/' 
his friends who desired a perma- 
nent record. 









Brief Biography Of The Author 



Washington Bailey, the author of this narrative of a trip 
to California in 1853, was horn October, 1831, in Adams 
County, Ohio. Afterwards he, with his parents, came to 
Fountain County, Indiana, from which place he went to Cal- 
ifornia, returning in 1856 to Cheney's Grove, now Saybrook, 
Illinois. 

While in California, he sent money hack to his father, 
who bought for him, fifty acres of land, where Bellflower 
village now stands, paying $5.00 per acre. This he sold in 
1856, getting $6.00 per acre. He then bought 85 acres north 
of Saybrook, adding to it later 40 acres, at a total cost of 
$1,400. This was sold in 1864 for $1,875. The next year he 
purchased 141 acres in DeWitt County, 111., where Mike 
Walden now lives, paying $22.00 per acre. He purchased 
more land bordering this farm until 1891, when he moved to 
LeRoy, where he has since resided in a commodious home 
south of the city park. 

This farm of 261 acres was divided up among his children 
and afterwards sold. Mr. Bailey later invested in 160 acres 
in DcVYilt County, which he now owns conjointly with his 
wife, having deeded 80 acres to her. Besides his residence, 
he owns another residence property in LeRoy. 

Mr. Bailey was married to Julian Brit tin, March li), 1857, 
and they are parents of three boys and three girls, all liv- 
ing. They are: A. G. Bailey, who was serving his second 
term as mayor of LeBoy, when this volume was published; 
Henry Bailey, of Normal; Lincoln Bailey and Mis. Nancy 
Van Deventer, of LeRoy; Mrs. Sarah Brown, of Maroa, and 
Mrs. Emma Vance, of Farmer City. 

Mr. Bailey has served several terms as justice of the 



./ Trip to California in ls.~>.l 



peace and school director. He has been a loyal member of 
the Methodisl church since boyhood. He has a remarkable 

memory and has always look a Lively interest in politics. His 
mind is a storehouse of dates and facts concerning political 
affairs. He is a staunch foe of the Liquor traffic, and holds 
to the Republican doctrine of MeKinley and Roosevelt. He 
is a man of deep convictions and is always ready to advocate 
them (.n all occasi< ns. 

Although about 84 years of a<. r e as this hook goes to press, 
Mr. Bailey is enjoying good health and goes up town cwvy 
day to greet old friends and acquaintances. Loved by all his 
children, respected by the whole community, still enjoying 
the companionship of his good wife, there are no clouds in 
the western horizon, and the sundown of his life is radiant 
with worthy motives and deeds of a three-quarters of a 
century. 



CHAPTER I 



UNCLE JOSHUA'S VISIT AND OUR PREPARATIONS FOR 

THE WEST 



In the spring of 1853, my uncle, Joshua Bailey, came from 
California to Ohio to see his mother and his brothers, 
uncle John Bailey, and my father, Eben Bailey. But my 
lather had moved to Fountain County, Indiana, so uncle Josh- 
ua came through Indiana to see us. 

Joshua Bailey had gone to California in 1849, across the 
plains and had made over one hundred thousand dollars in 
gold. He hired my brother-in-law, William Reighley, to come 
out with him from Adams County, Ohio, to Indiana, to buy 
stock to take across the plains to California. My uncle had 
bought a span of mules in Ohio. Three of my cousins, Will- 
iam McNeal, Joel Bailey, George Bailey, and a man by the 
name of Bart Robins, brought the mules and some harness 
through to Indiana, so William Reighley, uncle Joshua and my 
cousins, were all together at my father's. My brother, Craw- 
Cord Bailey, and my self, concluded to go along with them. 

Uncle Joshua Bailey had gone to the lead mines when he 
was a young man, had married and raised his family there. 
It was from there he had gone to the gold mines. 1 was 
twenty-one year old at the time of nude's visit to our house 
in Indiana, and it was the first time I had ever seen him. 

.My ancle poured out ;i pile of gold coins from a carpel 
sachel that was lined inside with buck shin and counted Oil! 
several thousand dollars, enough to buy 250 head of cattle, 
L,500 head of sheep and seme horses and gave it to William 
Reighley, to go to Illinois to buy this stock and il did not 
look like you could hardly miss ii out of the pile of gold coins 



,' r A Trip in California in 1853 

on the table. He gave him more money than would be nec- 
essary to buy the stock and my brother, Crawford Bailey and 
cousin, William McNeal were to take what was Left and pay 
the expense of feeding the slock and their Lodging through 
to Indian Territory, where we were to start across the plains, 
and what was left, turn it over to uncle. 

Win. Reighley, for bis labor buying the cattle and cover- 
ing his expenses, kept out $50. lie had traveled over > s <><) 
miles iu coming to Illinois and traveling over Piatt, Macon, 
DeWitt, Logan, Tazwell and Peoria counties, picking up the 
stock. When the stock was finally delivered to uncle Joshua, 
he was well pleased with the judgment William used in 
the buying. 

Aiter ancle had made arrangements for the purchase of 
the slock, he went hack to Wisconsin to his family and 
made preparations to move to California to make his home. 
After William Reighley had boughl the stock in Illinois, he 
went with the hoys as far as the Illinois River and then re- 
turned to Ohio. While 'the stork was being bought, I, with 
two other young men, were making preparations to go and 
overtake them. We had rented some land and had to dispose 
of that and sell some grain and some horses before starting. 

We were to meet the advance party at Independence, Mo., 
hut when we were ready to start, heavy rains had set in and 
we were much delayed by swollen streams. At many places 
we had to swim our horses as there were hut few bridges. 
We had to go out of the way ten miles at Danville, in order 
i,, gel across the Vermillion River. When we gol to Peoria, 
we learned that the roads were so had that we took passage 
on ;i steam hoat down the Illinois River to St. Louis. There 
we took passage up the Missouri River to Independence, Mo., 

Where we expected to filul tile lliell with tile stock. 

After reaching Independence and waiting several days, we 

were not able to hear anything of uncle or of the drove 
which he was driving through from Wisconsin. We learned 
thai there were other places from which the overland trains 



Uncle Joshua's Visit and Our Preparations 5 

started for the West. One was St. Joe, about eighty miles 
up the river, and two of my party went to St. Joe, while I 
remained at Independence. By watching at St. Joe and Inde- 
pendence, we expected to meet the train as we knew that we 
must be ahead of them. The men at St. Joe happened to run 
across uncle, who had been in St. Louis to buy supplies for 
the trip. They wrote me and I left for St. Joe. 

We told uncle that he had instructed the men who were 
driving stock through from Illinois, to go to Independence, 
but he did not understand it that way. He had instructed his 
family and the men who were bringing the stock from Wis- 
consin, to go to Cainsville, Iowa, which was twenty-five miles 
above Council Bluffs on the Missouri River, and about 150 
miles from St. Joe. Uncle bought a yoke of oxen and a 
wagon at St. Joe and he and I started for Cainsville. 

After we were in Cainsville for several days, the family 
and party, with the horses, wagons and cattle, came from 
Wisconsin. In the party, were Peter House, his brother-in- 
law and family, William Nailer, Thomas Roberts, John Feril, 
Allen Gilber, Horace Failling, Thomas Brooks, John Brooks 
and James Creek. 

We remained there for two or three weeks, hoping to hear 
from the drove from Illinois. Uncle finally came to the con- 
clusion that be had told them to go to Independence, Mo., 
and he sent Jobe Spray to St. Joe to see if he could find 
trace of them. He was given money to buy a horse and sad- 
ill', and in case they had crossed the river at St. Joe, lie was 
to follow and overtake them, in order to get the two parties 
together. When he reached St. Joe, he found that they had 
crossed there and later learned that when crossing the .Miss- 
ouri, that they had stopped to shear the sheep, and on finding 
that Independence was smith of the direct line, they had 
made directly for St. Joe and had crossed the river before 
Jobe had arrived. On account of the misunderstanding, 
uncle, with his party, was above Council Bluff on the cast 
side of the Missouri, and the Illinois party was somewhere 



A Trip to California in 1853 



on the wcsl side of Hit' river in whal is now K;ins;is. 

I was with the party at Cainsville, when an incidenl 
happened which I never will forget. We were waiting for 
word from Jobe Spray, and uncle and ;ill the party except 
one other man and myself had Lef1 the cam]) and gone to 
Cainsville. We were left to heed the cattle. While in the 
town, uncle met a man who owned a farm near the camp. 
They rode <»nt as far as the camp together, and as uncle's 
horse was a Little thin, having been ridden through from 
Wisconsin, and the farm was but a short distance away, he 
picketed out the horse, took off the saddle ami threw it 
away far enough so that the horse could not reach it. He 
proceeded on foot to the man's farm. 

From where I was herding, I could see the horse and went 
down, thinking that some of the party had come back from 
Cainsville, and that I would he able to get something to 
eat as I was very hungry. When I got to the camp, I saw- 
thai it was uncle's horse, but could not see anything of uncle. 
I started hack- to the cattle when I discovered the saddle in 
the grass with a two-bushel sack tied to the horn of the 
saddle. I was interested to know what was in the sack, 
thinking it might he crackers, so I gave the sack a kick 
with the toe of my hoot. There was a jingling sound as if 
there were o\ shoes and nails in it. So to satisfy my curi- 
osity, I untied the sack from the saddle, ran my hand into 
it and took out, to my great surprise, a handful of gold. 
Tying up the sack, I looked in all directions for uncle, hut 
could not see him. I called out for him as loud as 1 could, 
three or four lime, hut received no answer. 

After waiting for quite awhile, I took the sack and hid it 
under some clothing and bedding in the bottom of one of the 
covered wagons. I then went to a high point near the cat- 
tle where I could watch both, the cattle and the wagon. 

Along in the afternoon, the folks returned from Cains- 
ville, and my mind was relieved, as I knew there was no 
further danger of prowlers. My helper and myself, gathered 



Uncle Joshua's Visit and Our Preparations i 

up the stock, and when we got into camp, it was dark and 
I was hungrier than I had ever heen before in my Life. 

''Conic to supper," was a welcome shout and the thought 
of the gold had vanished. While eating, I heard uncle call 
out to some of the men: 

"Did you see anything of a sack on my saddle horn?" 

Several of the men answered, "No," before I could get 
my mouth emptied and when my vocal canal was free from 
congestion, I holloed, 

"1 saw a sack on the horn of your saddle," and he an- 
swered back, 

"All right Wash," and I told him to wait until I had my 
supper and I would be over and get it for him. 

I went to the camp fire where the men were huddled and 
and asked uncle where he had been and he said that he had 
walked to the farm across the fields. I asked him how much 
was in the sack and replied, "Thirty-six thousand Dollars." 

I went to the wagon and got the sack. Uncle was badly 
scared and remarked that it was the most careless trick that 
he had ever done. There were some Mormons camped a short 
distance away and he said that if they had found the sack, 
that he would have been ruined. 

While waiting at Cainsville, we finally received word 
from Jobe Spray that the Illinois party had crossed the 
river at St. Joe and had proceeded on west and that he 
would follow them, they having crossed the river two weeks 
before he got there, lie had followed day and night and 
Overtaken them about half way between St. doe and Fort 
Kearney, which would be about 150 miles from St. doe. 
After receiving the letter, we began to make arrangements to 
cross the .Missouri River. The steam ferry boat had gone up 
the river after furs, SO we had no way to gel our stock and 
wagons across. 

While wailing, a fur boat came down the river with 
three men. This boat was strictly a home made affair. It 



./ Trip to California in 185S 



was built of rough sawed lumber and the bottom and sides 
were nailed onto the frame with several thicknesses of 
boards and caulked up with buffalo tallow to keep it from 
leaking too badly. We secured this boat to get us across. 

Tlie process of getting that old boat across the river was 
;i difficult one and as it only could take sixteen cattle at a 
time, many trips had to be made. A round trip across the 
river, meant much labor, and was as follows : 

After the cargo was put in the boat, it had to be hauled 
by ropes and pushed by pike poles up the river along the 
bank, until we were above an island which was in the middle 
of the river. Then we would cast off from the shore and by 
means of the oars, pulled for the opposite shore. The cur- 
rent, however, would take the boat in a diagonal direction 
so be would strike the lower end of the island. Then we 
would pull and push the old ark to the upper end of the 
island and again cast loose and finally reach the shore at a 
point much lower, being carried along with the current. In 
order to get back, we would drag the boat along the west 
shore to above the island again and cast off, reaching the 
lower end of the island. Dragging the boat along the shore 
to the upper end of the island and crossing, finally reach the 
east side below the camp. After two weeks of hard work, we 
managed to ferry all the stock and camp outfit across with- 
out serious accident. 



CHAPTER II 



ON THE WESTERN PLAINS SOME OF OUR EXPERIENCES 



When we reached the other side, we were in Indian ter- 
ritory, or what is now known as Nebraska, and a short dis- 
tance north from where Omaha now is. At this place, uncle 
Joshua impressed on our minds the danger of an attack by 
the Indians and told us to make plenty of bullets and have 
our guns well loaded to protect ourselves. Up to this time, 
I had seen only two Indians. One of them was a squaw 
named Gripteth, on this side of the Wabash River in War- 
ren County, Indiana. The other one I came upon lying in the 
grass south of Cainsville, wrapped up in a red blanket. The 
way uncle talked I thought that we would have to fight our 
way through. The imagination pictured out every bunch of 
grass or object in the distance as Indians, but coming closer, 
we found that we were always unnecessarily alarmed. The 
scare over meeting Indians gradually wore off, and when we 
came to the Indians, or rather, when they came to us, I was 
not as afraid of them as 1 was of the wolves. 

We followed the Indian trail until we came to the Elkhorn 
River and there we crossed on a willow brush bridge. These 
bridges lay flat on the water and I did not find out how 
they were fastened to the banks. Before we reached Cali- 
fornia, we had crossed over several of them. 

We kept ;i southwest course, following the trail and reach- 
ed the Platte River, which we followed on the north side. 
We had traveled about 2<>o miles in Nebraska. We heard 
cannons firing and we knew thai we were near Fori Kearney 
and thai they were celebrating the Fourth of duly. 



in A Trip to California in 1853 

Uncle Joshua, on a fine bay blooded mare which he had 
broughl from Wisconsin, forded the river after a Life and 
death struggle with the treacherous quick sands along the 
banks, and managed, by wading and swimming the horse, to 
gel across the river. 

After arriving on the opposite hank, he waved his hat in 
token of his success and stalled for the fort. He carried 
with him a seven shot Colts rifle and a five caliber Colls 
revolver. When uncle reached Fori Kearney, as we after- 
wards learned, lie found that Hie Illinois train had passed 
through there two weeks before. Uncle took up the trail 
and after following for ten days, lie overtook them on the 
south side of the North Platte, a short distance on this side 
of Fori Laramie near the Wyoming-Nebraska line, at a place 
called Asli Hollow. The river was forded and the cattle, 
sheep and horses were now on the right hank of the river. 

The &igh1 after uncle had left the camp, we were camped 
near the river on some ground which was level and smooth. 
Aunt and her two children, Henry and Ellen, were with her 
in one of the tents. During the night there was a heavy 
rain or water spout. 1 was lying on the ground with my 
hoots and coat under my head, and I was awakened by the 
water which had partly covered my body. 1 heard aunt 
crying and calling: "Where is Henry? I can't find Henry." 

I started to go to her and got into deeper water and real 
ized the water was raising very fast. I reached aunt, who 
was holding tlie little girl in her arms and she was hysterical 
aboul the hoy. I heard a sphish and following the direction 
of the sound in the darkness, I got my hand on his head and 
lifted him out of Ihe water. I look aunt and the children to 
a covered wagon, where we stayed until morning. The 
water had raised until it was two and one-half feet deep, 
when it began to go down and by morning it was all gone. 
We were not ahle to understand where so much water came 
from so quickly or where it had gone, as the river was aboul 
a mile from t he camp. 



On the Western Plains — Some of Our Experiences 11 

We broke camp and trailed on westward on the north 
side of the river, and after several days, we met uncle, who 
was returning from overtaking the Illinois train. He had 
hailed them at Ash Hollow, near Fort Laramie. We finally 
reached their camp and for the first time after about a thou- 
;ind miles' travel, the two trains were united. 

It will he remembered that the junction place was to be 
Independence, Missouri, hut the meeting place turned out to 
lie in the borders of Wyoming. The two herds made 1500 
sheep and 500 cattle and we were on the borders of the rough 
and tumble freaks of nature near the foot hills of the great 
Rockies. 

After we had passed Fort Kearney in the month of July, 
we saw great herds of Buffalo going north. At times as we 
looked across the Platte River, we could see countless num- 
bers of them and the earth would be black with them for 
miles. The droves would travel in "V" shape, with the 
Leaders at the point. When a drove would cross the river 
town rd us, it was necesary to use the utmost care in order 
that our cattle would not stampede. We would herd our 
cattle up close and get out with our guns and by shooting 
and holloing, we were able to turn the buffalo in a direction 
away from our cattle. 

We came to high grounds, once, where there was excellent 
grazing and we stopped there for the day, to lei the cattle 
and stock take advantage of the good grass. While we were 
eating our dinner, two Indians came riding up, with two of 
the finest spotted ponies 1 had ever seen. They go1 off and 
were holding them with a sort of a lariat, as they had no 

bridles, when Hart Robins, oi f the men with us. made the 

Indians understand by signs, thai lie wanted to ride one of 
the ponies. 

lie mounted one of them and rode away to round some 
of the cattle which were st ray i u g. When linrf first started 
off, they did not care, bu1 when they saw him circle away 
from the main herd, they evidently though! that he was run- 



/ .' ,/ Trip to California in 1853 

ning away with it, and one of them jumped on the other 
pony, fixed an arrow to his how and started in pursuit. By 
yelling as loud as we could, we attracted the attention of 
Bar1 and motioned for him to circle back to camp. By keep- 
ing a circle, he kepi ou1 of shooting distance of the how. and 
arrived in camp safe, but somewhat frightened over his 
experience. The Indians go1 on their ponies and left. 

Two or three days after this incident, a chief and aboul 
twenty of his tribe, came to us and after a pow-wow, they 
sat down in a row and uncle understanding the maneuver, 
had as many of the men sit down facing them, as there were 
Indians. The chief lit his tomahock pipe, took a puff, passed 
it to uncle, who did the same. The order pursued, was thai 
the chief would hand it to one of the Indians; the pipe would 
be returned to him, and he would hand it to uncle, who 
would give it to one of the men, who would return it to uncle, 
and uncle would give it hack to the chief. The order was 
maintained until all the men and Indians had a puff at the 
pipe. When the program was over, the child' arose and 
said, "How!" and he and the Indians took their departure. 
This was Hie "pipe of of peace*' and meant that they would 
do us no harm, and we wrvv not to harm them. Evidently 
this visit was to clear up the misunderstanding concerning the 
pony incident. 

A rule had been made and understood by the men that 
there was to he no quarreling or fighting in the camp. It 
is unfortunate in camp Life, especially on a trail far west. 
to have enmity in the cam]). Tom Brooks, who was one of 
the cooks, was a crabbed fellow, .lames Greek was an orphan 
hoy. who had made his home with uncle for several years. 
and who one day killed a big buffalo. 

In order to preserve the meat, it was put through a pro- 
cess of jerking, which was to cut it into strips to he dried 
by the sun or by heating. We had made a scaffold by put- 
tine- forked sticks in the ground and by Laying sticks across 
in them, had made a platform aboul the fire. After the 



On the Western Plains — Sonic of One Experiences IS 

fire became a bed of charcoal, the meat was laid on the cross 
slicks to roast and dry. 

-James, who was a good natured chap of eighteen years 
of age, and having killed the buffalo, helped himself to a 
piece of the meat. Tom Brooks ordered him to put the meat 
back, which he refused to do, Tom jumping onto him and 
beat him, until his face was black with the beating. The 
sympathy of the camp was with Jim ' and Tom lost the re- 
spect of the camp by his bullying disposition. Uncle was 
restrained from taking a hand in the matter, as he could 
not afford to lose any of his helpers. 

One day when uncle and aunt rode ahead to pick out a 
camping place, he had instructed us to drive the cattle to 
the left side of the trail as we were nearing alkali water, 
which was unfit for the stock to drink. He had given us 
wrong instructions, for instead of driving them away from 
the danger, we drove them to where they drank the injurious 
water. As a result, we lost, with what we had killed for 
beef, about 250 head of cattle. If the sheep drank any of 
the water, they were not affected. 

In the herd of cattle we had left, were forty or fifty milk 
cows, some of them fresh and we had plenty of milk. The 
boys all milked except Wm. Nailor, who could not, but had 
made arrangements with the other boys to take his place 
and he would do some of thier work in exchange. 

One day, Nailor, who was in the rear of the train, came 
in late for dinner. It was customary for every one to have 
a cup of milk for dinner, and he held out his cup to Tom, 
the cook, for his milk. Tom, after the others had eaten, 
poured the milk out on the ground and said to Nailor, "No 
man who wont milk, can drink milk." 

Nailor replied that he had made arrangement for others 
to milk in his place and that it was none of Tom's business. 
Angry words followed and Tom took a run at Nailor. hut- 
ting him in Hie stomach. Nailor was knocked down, and in 
falling, his head struck the wheel of ;i wagon, cutting ;i 



/ . ./ Trip to California in I 853 

gash in his scalp. This ended the fighl and Tom. after tins, 
was meaner than ever, as he had whipped Nailor, who had 
some reputation as a fighter. 

It has been over sixty years since these events took place, 
but I distinctly remember another of the mean tricks of the 
cook. Tom had a way of cutting ou1 of a side of bacpn, the 
hest pail. Leaving the balance for the family. My aunt 
spoke to him about it and with an oath, he told my aunt to 
attend to her own business. Such insolence was endured for 
the time being, but later Tom paid the penalty, the story of 
which will he told later. 

I remember at one place where we camped late at night, 
that when we awoke the next morning, we discovered two 
graves side by side. Near the graves was an endgate of a 
wagon on which was cut with a knife, the words, •'Do qo1 
camp here." 

Evidently it was a dangerous place to camp on account 
of the Indians and the graves were mute testimony of that 
fact. The graves were lined with large rocks or bowlders, 
and over the top there were also rocks to proted the bodies 
from wolves. However, the wolves had dim- down on one 
side deeper than the graves and dislodged some of the 
rocks and go1 the bodies. Some of the human hones were on 
tin' ground where the wolves left them after picking off the 

flesh. 

We followed the headwaters of the North Platte, which 
flowed to the east, and Leaving this river, we soon arrived at 
the headwaters of the Sweet River, whose waters flow west- 
ward into the Green River and on through the Columbia 
River to the Pacific. If yon will take your atlas and find 
Fori Laramie on the Platte River, and follow it until yon 
come to Casper, and then skirt the Rattlsnake hills on the 
north, you will reach the Sweel Water River near whal is 
now called Independence Rock and slit Rock. 

Tlie Sweel River .Mountains will he on your south and 
the Wind .Mountains on the north, as you cross between, 



On the Western Plains — Some of Our Experiences 15 

through South Pass along the banks of the beautiful river 
Sweet Water. We saw the Chimney Rock which stood out 
by itself like a chimney after the house had burned. I think 
that it must be what is now called Independence Rock, 
which name is very appropriate. Also there was the Court 
House Rock, called that because of the rooms in it as if 
someone had cut rooms into the soft rock. There was the 
Devil's Gate, which was a massive ridge of rock, through 
which the river, some time in the dim past, had apparently 
drilled, and through the ages, disposed of the rock above, 
until a dec]) and straight-faced canyon greeted the "Path 
Finder" of other centuries. 

We camped here for a day and others of the camp dis- 
eovered a beautiful pool of water jutting out from the river. 
The water was clear as crystal and we could see in the water 
the most beautiful fish that I had ever seen. They were 
spotted or speckled and all about the same size — about twenty 
inches long. They were the speckled trout so much prized 
by the anglers of today. 

We took one of uncle's wagon covers, tied a log chain to 
one side along the edge; tied a rope on the other side; got 
some tent poles and tied them to the end of the cover. We 
were going to seine this pool of water, when uncle came 
down to where we were and wanted to know what we were 
doing. We told him that we were going to seine the pool 
and catch some of those Title fish. 

lie said, "Vmi can't catch fish witli a wagon cover. You 
will only tear my cover to pieces and catch no fish. 1 don't 
want my cover lorn up. 1 will need it." 

We told him we would not hurt his wagon cover, bu1 lie 
forbade lis using it. We told him that we had it fixed and 
we were going to make one haul any how, and show him we 
cuiih] catch fish with a wagon cover. Uncle got out of 
humor, bu1 we did that once as we pleased. We went in 
with our seine at the upper mid of the pool ami dragged 
down to the Lower end, where there was a nice gravel riffle. 



16 •/ Trip to Calif ornia in 1853 

;i oiee place to pull out on the side We boys had seined 
with uncle John's wa<ron cover in Elkrun in Ohio, and we 
understood the business. In the first haul, we bad a Lot 
of the finest kind of fish and uncle's wagon cover was not 
damaged. 

Uncle was so surprised to see such a lot at one drag, that 
be told the men to unyoke the oxen, and that they could 
dress and fry fish the rest of the day. We caught all tin- 
fish they all wanted and as many as they wanted to take 
along. 



CHAPTER III 



AMONG THE FOOT HILLS AND TROUBLESOME INDIANS 



If you will take your atlas, and look on the map of 
Wyoming, at the base of the Wind Mountains, the most rug- 
ged group of the Rockies, you will find South Pass, with 
the headwaters of the Sweetwater River, cutting a canyon 
through it Going westward from this point and following 
the Sweetwater River, we came to the headwater, which was 
called Atlantic Springs. A few hundred yards beyond, we 
came to the Pacific Springs. This small strip of land is the 
water shed or dividing point between the two oceans. The 
water which bubbles up from the Atlantic Springs, races east- 
ward through the rocky canyon of the Sweetwater and to the 
Platte and from the Platte to the Missouri, thence the Mis- 
sissippi, uniting with the waters of the Ohio, Illinois, Ten- 
aesse and Cumberland, the Monongahela, of the Allegheny 
Mountains, finally reaching" Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic 
Ocean. 

Bu1 should you follow the course of the sparkling water 
that gushes from the Pacific Springs, you would course along 
the Big Sandy to the Green River, which cuts its way 
through the sand and rocks of that rough and tumble country 
of northern Utah and northwestern Colorado. Launch your 
boal on the turbulenl waters and drift, if you were not cap- 
sized, in southern I'tah, you would come to Colorado River 
and then soon in the shadows of the most wonderful canyons 
which scar Mother Earth, the Cataract, Marble and Grand 
Canyons, of world renoun. These livid seething waters 
find rest in the bosom of the gr«a1 Pacific. 



18 '7 Trip to California in 1853 

We trailed westward across the Pacific Springs on the 
Bear River which flowed south to Bear Lake in the northern 
pact of Utah. We were on what was called Fremont and 
Carson route. This lead southwest to Salt Lake City. When 
north of Salt Lake City, we came to what was called the 
Truckey route. This route left Salt Lake City to our left. 
We were behind all the other trains and it had been re- 
ported that the Mormons had killed a whole train of men, 
women and children, for plunder and had laid it onto the 
Indians. Old Brigham Young had scut what he called his 
"Destroying Angels" and had murdered all of them ami took 
all the stock and wagons. We decided to take the Truckey 
route and keep away from Brigham Young and his "des- 
troying angels." 

Perhaps one of the most interesting things I saw while 
traveling through the Bear River country in southern Utah, 
was a lava bed, about fifty or sixty feet high and I judge 
ahout two hundred feel wide ,-it the hase. At the crest, the 
lava was bubbling out as (dear as water and running down 
the side of the mound, it would cool and turn into rock, 
forming a rocky mound. I saw three such mounds of lava 
or pock, which had been formed this way. The soil in the 
Bear River bottom was rich, black soil, and 1 thought what 
a pity it was that it should he covered with these mounds of 

lava. 

There was a grave at the foot of this mound with a head 
hoard, on which we were informed that the deceased had 
drunk of the lava water and had died in a few minutes and 
1 hat the water was poison. 

We came across what was called Soda Springs and the 
water was as fine as any 1 had ever drank, and it came out 
of the ground foaming, a veritable natural soda water foun- 
tain. We also saw the Steam Boat Springs, which gushed 
from a hole in the basin of rock. The water was boiling 
hot and it bubbled and sizzled like boiling water on a stove. 
It would boil for a short time and then the steam would 



. / morijS I he Font Hills, and Troublesome Indian* 19 

shod up about fifteen feet high. Below this spring and 
near the river, was a strip of rocks about twenty feel wide, 
that seemed to be in mot ion with heat. The water in the 
river was so hot we could not hold our bands in it for two 
or three rods along - the hanks. 

Down the river and off to one side, we came to Bear Rock. 

This rock was cut up with great crevices and if a man or 
beast had fallen into one of them, they would have disap- 
peared from view in the bowels of the earth. I threw a 
rock into one of them and heard it rattling down into the 
depths until the sound gradually died away in what appear- 
ed to be bottomless. This serrated rock appeared to be 
about three miles across and it was the most dangerous place 
we had encountered. It had to be crossed as it was the path 
of the trail. A road had been made by wedging rock in the 
crevices and by means of picks, the way had been smoothed 
down so we were able to get across without serious accident. 
While near Bear River, James Bailey and John Perril 
were driving a eow whose feet were so worn that she could 
not keep up with the rest of the drove. The boys would 
drive her along slowly and arrive late in the evening at the 
camp. She was a big v^d cow and uncle hated to lose her, 
hut one evening she laid down and the boys could not whip 
her up and they had to come to camp without her. The aext 
morning uncle sent -Jim and 1 after her. As we came in 
sighl of her, an awful sight came to our view. A pack <>!' 
wolves were around her, snarling and gnashing on all sides. 
The cow was making a desperate struggle to keep off the 
ravenous wolves. When we saw the condition, we rode as 
fast as we could and the wolves took to the tall grass. We 

found the hind quarter of the cow bleeding and in some 
places the flesh was stripped off to the bone. There was 
nothing 1<> do but to put her out of her misery, which I did 
with a shot from my gun. 

Jim held my horse ami I went near enough to the grass 
to shoot at them as they ventured out of the grass. I could 



20 •/ Trip to California in 1853 

not tell whether I killed any of them or no1 as they would 
leap back in the grass. I had in mind to go nearer to the 
grass to see the result of my shots, when .Jim called to me 
and said, "Wash, conic quick, (ret on your horse, the grass 
is alive with them." 

When I go1 on my horse, I could sec on both sides of 
the trail the grass all in motion with the cat like movements 
of the wolves. We could not see them, hut the waving grass 
showed thai it \v;is full of them. We put spurs to our horses 
and when we go1 to a safe distance, we stopped and looked 
back. the wolves had come out of the e-rass and were pilled 
upon the cow, resembling a small hay stack. 

One day soon after this, when we had made a noon stop, 
an Indian chief, who could talk our language, told us that 
his men, while hunting, had found a white man who was 
nearly starved to death, and that he had carried him to his 
lodge. Dnele and some more of the men went with him to 
see if he was strong enough to he taken along. They found 
him too weak to he moved. After a council between uncle 
and the chief, it was decided to leave him there and the 
chief promised to look after him and when he was strong 
enough, thai he would pu1 him on a pony and send him to 
Salt Lake City. I believe the man was left in good hands 
and that the chief was a man of his word. 

We were now coming to the desert country of Nevada 
and our cattle had been without water for a day, when we 
came to what is known ;is Poison Water. To gel across this 
little stream, we put the cattle in hunches of twelve and 
whipped them across, not letting them stop to drink. We 
trot all of our stock across without being poisoned. After 
we gol across, on the side of the hill, we saw the awful effects 
of the poison water, as there were hundreds of dead cattle 
and rods at a time, we could step on dead cattle without 
stepping ,,n the ground. 

After we gol hack on the Freemont and Carson route and 
were making for the headwaters of the llumholt River, we 



Among the Foot Hill and Troublesome Indians J 1 

found some fair grass land for the stock. We followed the 
Humbolt River for many miles until we came to the Humboli 
Sink. At first it was as smooth as a rock for some distance, 
but later we dropped off into sand and it was the worst 
travelling I ever saw. The sand was so light and fine, that 
one foot would go down until I would set the other foot on 
top of the sand and pull that foot out, before 1 could step 
one foot ahead of the other. It was about the same sort of 
motion and as slow as treading water. We were three days 
and nights crossing that desert. 

After getting across this desert stretch, we came to the 
banks of the Carson River, which we were to follow for 
many miles to the borders of California. When we reached 
Carson River, we came to a trader's pound, constructed of 
wagon tires and log chains. It was about the size of an 
ordinary city lot. There w T ere tires lengthwise and crosswise, 
hind wheel tires, front wheel tires and log chains, bound 
together in all kinds of shapes. There were tons of steel 
in that fence. We came across another pound on the Carson 
River, near the Sierra Nevada Mountains, built of logs. The 
logs were 100 feet or over in length and had notches cut in 
them. These logs were placed in two rows and were crossed 
by small logs resting in the notches. It was buill high 
enough so that slock could not jump over. 

One night when we were afraid the Indians would come 
in on us, a double guard was put on duly. Four men stood 
guard in the fore part of the night and four in the after 
part. The eight men to do duty were all the men in my 
mess. Uncle said that the bacon was getting low and that he 
wanted some one of our mess, to gel up early and help hill a 
beef. I told him to have some of the men in the other mess to 
help, as we would be on guard duty all night. Uncle said. 
"All right." 

The men of my mess had killed all the beeves and million 
up to that time. We did nol care, nor did we think much 



.' . ; ./ Trip to California in 1 953 

about it, as one of our men was a butcher. The next morn- 
ing uncle called for some one to get up and help him kill a 
beef. He called the second and third time, and no one got 
up and he said, "If no one will get up and help, you will 
do without meat." 

Two of the men in my mess said, "If the other fellows 
will not help, we will." 

1 did not help as I was willing to do without meat rather 
than help after being on guard about all night. When I got 
up, I went over to the other camp to see what was the 
matter and why they would not help to kill the beef. They 
had all gone to look after the stock except John and Tom 
Brooks. Tom, the cook, did not have to help with the other 
work. I asked, "John, why did not you fellows get up this 
morning and help uncle?" 

He looked at me, wrinkled up his face, swore and said as 
hateful as he could, "You will be a good deal prettier than 
you are, before 1 will help kill a beef." 

"Johnny," 1 replied, "If you don't propose to do your 
part, you might get a dose you would not like so well." 

1 thought 1 would go back to my eamp and say nothing 
more about it. 1 started off and had gone about a rod, when 
John said, "Now you go off to your own camp, or 1 will put 
Tom at you." 

1 turned around and looked at him and remarked, "You 
low lived insignificant scoundrel, you will put Tom at me?" 

"Yes. and if you don't go to your own home, 1 will gel 
at you," Tom cut in. 

"You big necked, nigerfied, curly-headed villian. you will 
get ;it me .'"I replied. 

Al that lie came running toward me and as he came near, 
he ducked his head to huti me in the stomach. When I 
saw that, 1 ran backwards a little to kill the shock and 1 
n-achrd down and caught him in the cheek, gave him a jerk. 
and lie fell (hi his hack. He fell near the hind wheel of a 



Among the Foot Hills and Troublesome Indians 23 

wagon. He pulled himself up by holding- to the wheel and 
I got him by the throat and pushed him back between the 
wheel and the bed, and beat his face and head like he did 
poor Jim Greek and gave him some for Nailor and some for 
abusing aunt, and some for jumping on to me. When I got 
through, he had a plenty and the great fighter was badly 
whipped and he had not given me a scratch. 

This was the first fight I had ever had and I found out 
afterwards that he had told the boys, that if any of his mess 
helped kill the beef, they would have had him to whip first. 
Aunt saw the commotion and called for me to come to their 
camp fire and get my breakfast. She said, "I am going to 
give you the best breakfast you ever had on the plains, for 
whipping that low lived, good for nothing, Tom Brooks." 

I ate breakfast with aunt — was the best meal on the 
plains and the only time I had eaten with her. Tom Brooks 
behaved after that. 

One morning we missed a cow out of the herd. Several 
of us went to find her. We hunted for quite a while and 
finally all came back to camp with the exception of my 
brother, Crawford Bailey and Wint Crumley. There was a 
willow thicket along the river and they got out of sight of 
us. They had found the trail of the cow and followed it. 
The camp had moved on down the trail while George Bailey 
had taken his gun and went on foot to kill an antelope. 
While hunting on the side of the trail, he was surprised to 
see Crawford and Wint running their horses around a bend 
in the river. He made for the trail just in time to catch 
one of the horses by the tail and by that means, kept up 
with the fleeing men. The Indians who were after them, 
tried to cut them off, but when they came in sight of the 
camp, they gave up the chase and disappeared. The two boys 
had followed the track of the cow into a willow thicket and 
they came across the Indians with a cow's hide stretched a- 
cross poles, scrapping it ready for tanning. The Indians 
saw them and gave chase, but the fleetness of the horses and 



./ Trip to California in 1853 

George's Lucky hold on the tail of the horse, saved their 
scalps. 

A few nights after this incident, we had to drive late to 
gel to where there was a good place to camp. It was dusk 
when we camped. We had to turn off to the righl of the 
main trail and the river hent off to the north and I think it 
was a quarter of a mile from the main trail 1<> where we 
camped. We had buiH our fires and were just ready to 
commence getting supper, when we heard the Indians begin 
holloing, ■"Show shony, show shony, humbugen, humbugen nss 
cawaw cawaw, cawowaw cawowaw eawowaw cawaw cawaw." 

The first time they holloed this, uncle -Joshua Bailey said. 
"There! We are going to he attacked. That is the war 
whoop. Put out the Fires and corral the wagons." 

The wagons were placed in a circle, running the tongues 
under each other so we could get inside and protect ourselves 
from their arrows as much as possible. When we got that 
done, which was in short order, he said, "All hands load 
your guns and your revolvers and have your knives ready." 

We had been so long on the road that everybody had be- 
come careless. Some of the guns had qo1 been used for a 
long time and were rusty and others had no Indicts. Some 
had to prepare their guns, while others tried to run bullets. 
We had what we called ladles to melt lead in. They were 
made of wooden pieces split out of oak or some other kind of 
hard timber, four square, with one end hewed round for the 
handle, the other end, that is. the square end, had a hole eu1 
down in with the corner of the ax. We would put lead in 
this ladle and put coals of fire in on the Lead and blow the 
coals with our breath, and which would not make much Light. 

-loci Bailey, my cousin, had run off from home when a 
small hoy. go1 on a steam boal at Ripley, Ohio, worked his 
passage as dish washer, and had gone to Wisconsin, where 
my three uncles were. While there, Joel goi acquainted with 
the Indians and their wavs more than I did, hut I had ffOt 



Among the Foot Hills and Troublesome Indians 23 



pretty well acquainted by this time myself. 

Aunt Susan Bailey was crying and talking to uncle and 
saying, "0, Bailey, why did you bring us all out here to be 
killed by the Indians." 

"We had treaties and I did not think they would bother 
us," replied uncle. 

Bellry Bailey, their eldest daughter, was of age, and 
Rachel Ann, the next daughter, was nearly of age, together 
with Aunt Susan and the rest of the little boys and girls of 
the camp were crying, and there in the utter darkness, it was 
hard to tell who were or were not crying. 

Joel Bailey, I knew, was a coward when he was sober, 
but when under the influence of liquor, he was not afraid of 
anything. All at once he holloed out, "If any other man 
will go with me, we will go out and see what those fellows 
want. ' ' 

I thought he was doing it for bluff, so 1 said, "I'll go 
with you." 

"Well, go and equip yourself." answered Joel. 

I replied, "What kind of equipment do you want me to 
have, a double barreled rifle, shotgun and a Colts revolver 
and a bowie-knife?" 

We had some of the guns in order, having been used for 
hunting purposes and Joel and 1 knew it, but someone hand- 
ed me a Colts revolver, for they knew I had only a single 
barreled pistol, another a combination gun, which had a 
rifle barrel and shot gun barrel on the same stock. -loci was 
equipped I )\ the time 1 was. Tin- [ndians commenced hollo- 
ing again, up the river behind us, where we had come just 
before camping. They would come down closer and then 
stop and hollo Hie same words. 1 will never forget them 

while I live. 

We started out and the men began to beg us not to go, for 
they thought we would he hilled. I informed them that I 



26 I Trip to California in 1853 

had promised to go and that I was going to go it' Joel did 
not back out. The Indians by this time had located our 
camp and were holloing again. Uncle -Joshua came outside 
the wagons, sot one foot on the hub of the hind wheel, held 
to the how of the wagon cover, and plead for us to come 
back and all fight and die together. Joel turned and told 
him with an oath, that if he didn't hush, he would shoot 
him, so uncle said no more. It was an awful dark night 
ami one could not tell one another at all, only by hulk and 
that not more than a few feel from each other. We walked 
straight as we could toward the sound of the Indians' voices. 
We got out of the sound of the crying and lamenting at the 
camp and Joel said, "Wash, I want to tell you something. 
I have been drinking wine and my head is not exactly Level 
and I will have to depend on you to do the guessing for me." 

Later we heard voices and .Joel whispered, "There are 
the chiefs giving the command and if we can get them, we 
can save the train, that is if we can get them before you 
hear the screech raise in the camp. Hut if you hear the 
screech raise in the camp before we get the chiefs, we will 
have to give Leg hail for security, for we are all the ones 
that will set out alive." 

"Where did you get your wine," I asked. 

"In that wagon 1 am driving," said .Joel. "Uncle .Josh 
has a keg of wine in that wagon and if we can gel those 
child's, you shall have wine to drink as Long as that keg 
lasts." 

I did not know there had been a hit of Liquor of any kind 
in the train for over two thousand miles ami I was puzzled 
to know what to do with a man under the influence of wine, 
whether to go back to camp or go on and try to take the 
chiefs. Hut 1 concluded to so ahead and try it, for .Joel 
had said that the Indians would do nothing without their 
chiefs first giving the command. 

The chiefs kept K ( >i n g on west and north, circling around 
our camp. Every time they would hollo, giving commands 



Among the Foot Hill's and Troublesome Indians Ji 



to their tribe, we would have to change our course and go 

more to our right in order to follow their voices, for that 
was all we had to go by, for a man could not see six feet to 
tell where they were. The chiefs got straight west of us 
down the river below our camp. I think fully a mile from 
our camp, and we could hear over a mile on a still night. 

The chiefs stopped and remained in one place and holloed 
the same "Show shoney humbugen oss humbugen oss cawaw 
cawaw eawowaw cawowaw cawaw cawaw." I could tell by 
the sound of their voices, after 1 got pretty close to them, 
that they laid down every time they holloed. Joel had told 
me that when close enough and thought 1 could guess the 
distance, we must count our steps and walk righl straight to 
the sound of their voices. When we had stepped to where I 
thought they were, for me to stop and he would hollo as 
loud as he could, "howdy doo." 

"They can't keep their mouth shut and they will say 
'howdy doo" too, then you show one of them how you do 
and 1 will show the other one how I do. Take him or die. 
Kill him if you have to take him dead, and 1 will take the 
other one or I'll die." 

We stationed ourselves to where their voices sounded close 
to us, and when they holloed again, 1 whispered to Joel, 
"About fifty steps, Joel, for your life." 

I don't believe 1 missed it two feet. -loci's head was 
level enough to counl his steps right, for we both stopped 
at once. As we went along, .Joel bore over toward me. 1 
was taller than he. 1 kept holding him over to the left, for 
1 thought he was trying to go too far to the righl for the 
sound of their voices. When we got to where they were 
laying in the grass, they were several feet apart. We were 
between them. 

" 1 low do you do .'" holloed Joel. 

"Howdy doo," said the Indian at my righl. 



28 -I Trip to California in 1853 

Joel jumped across in front of me, right onto the [ndian, 
and -said with a big word. "I'll show yon how I do." 

As -loci passed in front of me; I looked quickly over to 
my left, for the voice I had been Listening to. It sounded 
more to the left, when I saw something in the dark. I 
thoughl it mighl he the other Indian's head. 1 jumped to- 
ward it. When 1 lit. I could see the object more plainly 
and I made the second jump as far as I could and grabbed 
with my left hand. My fingers struck his head under the 
plat of his hair. He pulled and twisted, thrust his feet for- 
ward and threw his weight on my arm. but I jammed him 
up by the hair and told him if he made a move to hurt me, 
I would cut his heart out. 

"<), Wash!" called -loci, "Have you got your'n.' " 

"Yes." 1 replied, "I've got him by the hair of his head, 
with my left hand behind his back, and my bowie-knife 
drawn on him, and if he makes a move to hurt me, I'll cut 
his heart out. Have you got yours?" 

"I've got him in the same fix." was the reply. 

As we talked, we were pushing toward each other, until 
I could see Joel and his Indian. 1 told Joel not to get too 
close, so that if they go to do anything, we wouldn't hurt 
each other. 

When we neared the camp, uncle Joshua holloed. "Boys, 
have you got 'em .'" 

•• Yes, we've got 'em," said -loci. 

Uncle evidently did not hear and he yelled, "0, Wash, 
ha\ e you got 'em .' " 

"Yes," I holloed as loud as I could, "I've got one by 
the hair of his head and I'll cut his heart out if he makes a 
had move. -loci's got his in the same fix." 

"Hold on to them boys," uncle said. "Hold on to them. 
We will start up the fires so you can see where to come." 
ami the fires lit up mighty quick. 



.Iniowj the Foot Hills and Troublesome Indians 29 

I shoved up <>n my Indian's hair and made him tramp up. 
When we got to where Aunt Susan Bailey, Bellry and Rachel 
could sec us with the Indians, they commenced to jump up 
and down and elap their hands, exclaiming, "O, Goody, 
goody," the tears running down their faces. The little hoys 
and girls all joined in. 

When the camp got more settled, the other men started 
out to look after the stock and we had uncle with his seven 
shot Colt rifle watching the Indians. Joel and I untied the 
Indians' belts and took their tomahocks, knives, hows and 
arrows from them. Each had a fox skin full of arrows. We 
were going to hide them, when all at once the Indian I had 
taken in, commenced holloing, "Show shoney humbugen — 

But that was as far as he got, when we holloed to uncle, 
"Knock him down, knock him down, don't let him hollo." 

We dropped the belts and Indian weapons and ran back 
with our fists shut, ready to strike as soon as we could get 
to him. Uncle had his fist dawn to strike, but grabbed his 
Colls rifle which was leaning against a wagon, and drew his 
gun on them both and said, "Drop to the ground or I'll blow 
both your brains out." 

They dropped flat on their faces. 

"Now," said uncle, "If you fellows move or say a word 
until tomorrow morning at sun up, I'll blow your brains out." 

They lay there all night and did not move until after sun 
up the next morning. 

The men gathered up the stock and saw to them as well 
as they could and then came in and got their suppers. It 
was gelling late by this time. Cncle sat in his place and 
watched the Indians all night. All the men guarded the 
stock and the camp except Joel and I. The men told us that 
we were excused from further duty and that Joel and I 
mighl go 1<> l>ed and sleep. We were the only men in the 
train that slept any that night. 1 don't believe the women 
slept much either. 



,',(> ,1 Trip to California in 1853 



The next morning we held a council concerning these 
chiefs. Uncle had more experience with Indians than the 
rest of us. 

"If we kill them," said uncle, "The whole tribe might 
come on us, and if we took them along, the other Indians 
would see us and they might come onto us and overpower us. 
The best thing- we can do, is to give them their breakfast 
and treat them well and let them go, and maybe they'll not 
bother us any more." 

This we did. That morning we got a late start. The sun 
was way up and it must have been about nine o'clock before 
We drove out. 

While we were eating our dinner the following day, some 
Indians came to us — one was a chief of another tribe. He was 
an educated chief and could talk our language. We had just 
gotten out of the tribe's territory where we had the time the 
night before, lie told my uncle and my brother, Crawford, 
that those child's, whom Joel and 1 had taken, were had men, 
and if we had brought them with us, they would have fixed 
them for us and that those bad chiefs had no more idea of our 
men going out and jumping onto them, than nothing in the 
world, and that that was all that saved us. lie also stated 
that the had Indians did not care how many of their men 
they lost, just so they accomplished the killing of the white 
people and got their stock. 

Joel kept Ins word in reference to the wine. He drove 
the OX team and wagon in which was the wine, also the bed- 
ding for uncle's family. He would claim he was sleepy, get 
the girls to drive for him, get the drinking cup, fill it two- 
thirds ful when their backs were turned, and then come run- 
ning and holloing for me to hold up, for he wanted a drink, 
as I had a keg of water in the hind end of my wagon. lie 
would uever spill a hit of it. I would drink part of it and 
Joel uever let the rest go to waste. Joel was the prettiest 
runner I ever saw. He could run so Level, that his head 



Among tin 1 Foot Hills and Troublesome I nil ions .11 



looked like it was sailing through the air. I never saw him 
outrun, and I had seen him run with some who were counted 
fast. Tie brought me wine several times. I asked him one 
day, how much wine there was in that keg. 

"0! There's right smart of it," he replied. 

I told him not to bring me any more, and that was the 
last he brought me, but I heard it was dry before we got 
through. 



CHAPTER IV 



OVER THE MOUNTAINS INTO CALIFORNIA 



While we were going down the Humbolt River, several 
days before we got to the sink or desert, six of our men got 
tired going so slow, and went on and left us. Uncle tried to 
get them to stay with us, hut when they would go, he offered 
them provisions to take along. Four of them were so gritty 
that they would not take any. Two of them did. These 
four thought they would come to what were called "trading 
posts," hut they had all gone hack to California, as we after- 
wards found. The men had nearly starved to death. They 
had to shoot birds and they used everything they could find 
for food. 

These "trading posts" were kept by men who had 
brought on pack mules, provisions from California, to sell to 
emigrants and bought up weak stock and herded them on the 
grass until they got strong enough to drive across the Sierra 
Nevada Mountains into California. 

Uncle thought we would soon come to one of these trad- 
ing posts, where we could get flour, hut the traders had all 
gone back and ceased to trade. We ran out of flour and sea 
biscuits when we crossed the desert into Carson Valley. We 
had to live on beef and mutton for five or six hundred miles. 
The first flour and bread we got to eat. was after we crossed 
the summit of the Sierra Nevada Mountains. 

I thought I had seen mountains before, hut these heat 
them all. When we got to the headwaters of the Carson 

River, for it was up in the Sierra Nevada Mountains, we 
went over what was called the Johnson Cut Off. When we 



Over The Mountains Into California 33 

got to the foot of the mountain, I looked up its side and 
told Uncle Joshua that we could never get up this mountain 
in this world, for it looked as straight up as a wall could 
possihly be. 

"0, yes, we can," he said. "We will get on the trail and 
go first one way and then another, until we get up." 

We were six days getting everything to the top of that 
mountain, and when we got up, we rested one night. The 
first horse uncle lost was getting up this mountain. He was 
a little w T eak, stumbled and fell off the trail and that was the 
last we ever saw of him. 

The next morning we yoked up the oxen and all got ready 
to start. Uncle instructed me to lead out. Right on top 
of the mountain, it was pretty level for some distance. I 
drove on ahead of the rest. I came to where I saw 1 had to 
go down again. I stopped, locked both hind wheels of my 
wagon, rough locked them by wrapping a chain twice around 
the felloe and tire, so the tire would ride on the chain and 
make it drag hard on the ground. I started down. 1 had 
not gone far until I found I was going down the same kind 
of a mountain we had been six days coming up. A little 
further down, the trail got very narrow. I was on the left 
side of the oxen, for that was the side upon which we had 
always taken when driving. That put me on the lower side, 
so that if I had been knocked off, that would have been the 
hist of me. 1 stopped and let the wagon pass me. so that 1 
could get on the upper side to drive. When I crossed 

behind the wagon, the dust blew up in my face so thick 
that I could not see my wagon, and that was the lasl I saw 
of those oxen until nearly sun down. 

I went down the mountain as fast as I could. I had no 
idea I would ever see those oxen again, hut when I got 
down on Level ground at the foot of the mountain, where I 

could see, off aboill one hundred yards, there stood my oxen 
and wagon, right side up. There were three yoke of them. 
six head of cattle, hut my near ox, next to the wheel, died 



S4 *&- Trip to California in 1853 

that uight. 

The first ones to come down following me, were uncle 
and aunt. They were in a light one-seated top buggy, the 

one they had used all the way across the plains. Uncle had 
his feel under the buggy, holding down the hind axle tree, 
while aunt had the lines, driving. They drove a brown 
mare, which I had taken from Indiana and a black horse 
they had fetched from Wisconsin. 

Aunt was saying, "0, Bailey, I will he killed, 1 will be 
killed." 

"Hold on Susan, hold on, Susan," answered uncle. 

The team was nearly setting down on their hind parts 
and just sliding. They could not move their feet to step 
for rods at a time. 

"How did you ever get down that mountain," uncle 
asked when he saw me. 

"1 will never tell, uncle," I said. 

Nor did I tell, for I could not tell myself how those oxen 
got down that mountain. 

When we got started again on the trail, we met a man 
going across the mountains, over the same route, with a pack 
train. He was packing provisions across to the miners in 
Carson Valley. Uncle coaxed him out of two fifty pound 
sacks of Hour at thirty dollars a sack. This made our first 
bread since crossing the desert. 

Somebody stole the black horse which uncle and aunt 
drove down the mountain, while we were camped there that 
aight. This was the second horse uncle lost on the trip, 
and the last one since starting from the states. 

We drove down the west slope toward the gold nunc. 
The second nielli after we left the summit, it commenced to 
snow on us, hut not very fast. Every day after that, it was 
snowing or raining until we came to the gold mines. Some 
mornings the snow would he two or three inches deep, hut 
by night we would gel to when it was raining. 



Over The Mountains Into California 35 



One night we camped in what was called Pleasant Valley, 
near a stream called Boland's Run. A man by the name 
of Thomas Boland, kept a trading post here, with a stock of 
groceries, clothing, hoots and shoes, and a saloon in connec- 
tion. A little further down, we helped uncle across the Mc- 
Cosma River, to a place called Fair Play, where uncle said 
that he and his family could get down to their future home 
alone. We then bade farewell to uncle and family, and 
started on a prospecting tour. 

This was now the last of November. 

After we got to California, we found out that those had 
Indians on the Humbolt River, had taken two or three messes 
or camps, that year, and one man escaped from one of the 
camps and two out of another, the rest of the men, women 
and children being killed. These men, who got away from 
among the Indians in some way or other, got to other camps. 
The trains that were taken, were camped no great distance 
apart; far enongh so as to herd their stock and keep them 
separate. They said the Indians holloed on one side and 
while the campers were looking in the direction of the hollo- 
ing, the first thing they knew, other Indians came right in 
on them behind their backs. 

These three remaining men said that the next morning 
they gathered the white men from the camps up and down 
the river, and followed on the trail of the marauders. The 
[ndians had cut open sacks of flour and scattered il along 
their trail. They had also cut open feather beds and the 
feathers \\-ere blown over the prairie. When the white men 
came in sight, the Indians broke and ran in every direction, 
and when they got up to the captured oxen and wagons, 
which the Indians had taken from the campers, il was found 
that the Indians had cooked and were eating an unyoked 
ox, with the other ox still yoked with the dead one. They 
did not know how to gel the yoke off. The men took what 
oxen and stock' they could find, along with them, hut had 
no time to stay to hunl for them. This is the story of the 



36 .1 Trip to California in 1853 

men who escaped, and were then Living in California. 

These campers must have driven until after dark, for it 
seemed they did not have their oxen unyoked, for we always 
unyoked our oxen as soon as we stopped. 

1 shall now try to give you a description of the country 
through which we traveled. Starting in Nebraska, there 
was what 1 considered pretty good land for two or three 
hundred miles, though I did not see very much of the country 
outside the Platte River bottom. After we came to the Rocky 
Mountains, 1 never saw very much of what 1 called good 
land Laying in one body. Sometimes we would come to some 
pretty fair rolling land, hut it was what 1 called poor and 
rough. At times we got so high up, we were above timber 
line, hut we always had grass where there was soil. We 
passed through sage brush and sand, and all of that kind of 
country looked desolate to me, hut once in awhile, we would 
come to prairie land. We found some pretty good, rich 
strips of land away out on the other side of the Rocky Moun- 
tains. A good long ways out, we came to such a strip of 
land, which was called Fur Grove, covered with what we 
called balsam fir. 1 do not know in what state it is QOW, 
fur the whole country from the Missouri River to California 
was then known as Indian Territory. 

Sometimes we would he on the mountain tops, where we 
could look down and see below where we saw a fog, or at 
Leasl thought so, hut the men said it was raining down in 
the valley, hut (dear where we were. 

We passed Dear Red Mountains and there were black 
mountains not very far apart and which could he seen from 
one point of view. We crossed some small rivers. 1 re- 
member one in particular we had to cross on one of those 
willow brush bridges. There had been so much travel on 
this bridge, that a great hole was worn in it, hut uncle said 
we did not have time to stop to mend it, and we would have 
to risk it. We gol the horses, sheep, oxen and wagons 
across on the bridge, hut the cattle we had to swim the river. 



Over The Mountains Into California 31 

I don't believe I ever heard what the name of that river 
was, if I did, I have forgotten it. 

I did not see much of Iowa on this trip. Of all the country 
I saw from Indiana, through, or after 1 got through, there 
was none suited me like Central Illinois, and I have no1 
changed my mind. There was government land in Illinois 
to enter at that time. 



CHAPTER V 



PROSPECTING FOR GOLD- SOME HARD EXPERIENCES 



After we Left uncle in tin* mining district called Pair Play, 
wc crossed hack over the McCosma River to Boland's Run 
and went over to Four Spring Valley and prospected for 
some time before we struck any gold that paid. We fin- 
ally struck a claim that paid six dollars a day to the hand, 
clear of water. We had to buy water from a dike that was 
due; around on the side of the mountain and which cost us 
four dollars a day. We worked on this claim about three 
weeks, when the dike hroke between where we were at work 
and the head of the dike where the dam was made across 
the McComa River to turn the water out into the dike. We 
could not work any more until the dike was mended. 

My brother, Crawford Bailey and Wint Crumly went out 
prospecting. They went hack across the .McCosma River 
into Fair Play district, where we had parted with Uncle 
Joshua, a distance of fourteen miles. They struck a sur 
fare digging, and they wrote me and 1 went to them. We 
had to buy water at the same price, one dollar an inch, or 
four dollars a day. This claim was richer of gold. We 
made nine dollars a day to the hand, clear of water. 

We finally heard that the dike was mended over at Four 
Springs Valley and 1 vent over and sold our provisions and 
collected sixty dollars we hail loaned to a miner by the name 
of Thomas Brison. We did not go hack to Four Springs 
Valley to work any more, hut remained on the claim at Fair 
Play, until in June, when the water gave out and we could 



Prospecting for Gold — Some Hard Experiences 39 

not get water to wash any longer. We then concluded to 
go north on to the American, Uhy and Feather rivers and 
prospect and see if we could strike claims where we could 
get water to wash with. 

The American River was the next river after leaving the 
McCosma. When we came to the American River, np in 
the gold region, where we were crossing, the mountains were 
very steep and looked like they were straight np. We had 
to travel six miles to get from the bottom of the mountain 
to its top. But when we got to the American River district, 
every place we went, we found it claimed up and plenty of 
miners at work to do all the work there was to do. We 
could neither find claims to work for ourselves, nor could 
we hire out to work for any one else. 

We left the American River and went over the mountains 
to the Uhy River. When we got on top of the mountains 
and started down toward Uhy River, we had a hard time 
finding the path. There was so much gravel and rock and 
so little soil or dirt, it was almost impossible to see where 
footmen had made the path. Far toward the west end of the 
mountain, pack animals could get on top and then travel 
east ward from where we were crossing, but nothing except 
footmen and Indians could cross on the trail we were using. 

Woodmen had packed their wagons and tools up this 
mountain somewhere to the westward, to the point where we 
were crossing, and had cut sawlogs and hauled or rolled them 
nearby. Then by rolling the logs three or four rods on slop- 
ing ground, they would fall straight down to the river bot- 
tom, a distance that took us fellows a half day to go up. 

I was hunting for the trail which led down the mountain, 
when I came to the sloping ground where the woodmen had 
rolled these logs off. 1 walked carefully down this place, 
and when I looked down, 1 saw a yellow streak straight 
below me. It looked like I could step across it, lull I knew 
it w T as a river. It made me diz/y to look over the precipice 
and I stepped backward a few paces and then turned to 



A Trip to Cali for ii i<t in 1853 



walk to the top of the mountain again. If I had slipped 
there, thai would have been the last of me. 

After hunting a good while, we found the trail and wenl 
down the mountain. The path was just wide enough for one 
to walk on. If a person had stepped off with one foot, the 
rest of his life's story would have certainly been very brief. 
When we got down to the river, that little yellow streak 
which I thought I could step across when looking down the 
mountain, we had to cross in a ferry boat, the Uby River 
being a quarter of a mile wide. 

We went north and northeast until we reached Morisson's 
Diggings. The snow at this place was oxer thirty feet dee]) 
in the winter. They had to lay in provisions in the fall to 
last them all winter and until the snow melted off, and the 
mountain dried so the ground on the side of the mountains 
got solid enough so that the trail would not slip off from 
under the feet of the pack mules. 

They built their houses out of round pine or fur logs, a 
foot and a half in diameter, and porches built by letting one 
log at the eaves of I he house run out and logs a foot through, 
for posls set up under the ends of these logs. These porches 
were used to put wood under for winter use. When the 
snow commenced falling, they would beat it back with their 
shovels and keep it beaten back until they could form an 
arch overhead, making a tunnel from one house to another, 
so they could visit each other during the winter. 

It was tlie twentieth day of .Inly when we gol there and 
they were just getting started to wash gold. The gold was 
mixed with dirt and quartz rock. These rocks were round 
and smooth and about the size of ;i man's fist. When they 
were washed in the sluice boxes and thrown in piles, they 
looked as white as snow. 1 have often thought what a 
beautiful walk or drive they would make if we had them in 
Illinois. 

We stopped at Morisson's Diggings two or three days. 
We found Uncle Isaac and his son. .lesse, at this place. We 



Prospecting for Gold — Some Hard Experiences 41 

left there and went across another mountain to a place 
called Poker Flat, which was fourteen miles over the moun- 
tain. We heard there, that across on the other side of another 
mountain, on a stream called Nelson Creek, were new dig- 
gings. Uncle Isaac and his son made us promise, that if we 
heard of new diggings being struck, to give them word. I 
went back the next day and told them and they returned 
with me over to Poker Flat, where brother Crawford and the 
four others were waiting for us. 

We went over the mountain to Nelson Creek. An old 
Scotchman by the name of Wright, had struck a rich claim 
on the side of the creek on a little bottom. The gold here 
was coarser than it was in the southern diggings. The gold 
that Mr. Wright was getting, looked like small potatoes. 
Some were a little less and some a little over one ounce in 
weight. We prospected all around there, but could not strike 
any pay dirt. We concluded that if there was gold on this 
bottom, there must be gold in the creek. We put six men 
to dig a ditch to turn the creek out of the channel and 
then dam the creek and turn the water out, so we could 
get to the bottom of the creek. 

Old Mr. Wright had packed a whip saw over to make 
lumber for sluice boxes. Uncle Isaac and 1 borrowed the saw 
and went to work and whipsawed lumber for sluice boxes. 
We cut down two trees, up as high as we could reach, then 
cut small trees for skids, laid one end of the skid on the 
side of the mountain and the other end of the skids on the 
stumps of the trees we cut oft', then rolled the Log up <>ii these 
skids. Then with pick and shovel, a level place was dug 
underneath, the length of the sawlog, barked and lined it on 
two sides, then sawed to the lines. One stood on top of the 
log, the other under it, or in the pit, as it was called. The 
whipsaw is shaped like one of the common key saws, wide 
at one end and narrow at the other, only the whipsaw had 
handles en both ends. It took nice work to whipsaw lumber 
and keep it true to the line. 



A Trip to California in 1853 

We go1 our Lumber sawed, our sluice boxes made, our 
ditch dug, our creek darned and the creek turned out of the 
channel, prepared to work in the bed of the creek. 

Late one evening, we just had time to roll over a large 
bolder and get a pan of sand and gravel, and pan it out. 
We dried the gold and weighed it and there was seventy-five 
dollais worth of gold in that one pan. We worked out this 
claim, hul it proved to he a slate rock bed and was smooth 
and sleek, and the water washed all the gold away, only 
where a large bolder was imbeded in the slate bed and the 
gold settled around the holders. We did not get any more 
gold out of the rest of that claim, than I got in that one 
pan. 

We left Uncle Isaac at this claim and followed down 
Nelscn Creek. Our (tarty was composed of Crawford Bailey, 
Winston Crumly, -lack Alberts, (Juss Parberry, Bird Karris 
and myself. There was a nice path heat down on the side 
of the creek, hut the mountains on both sides stood almost 
straight up. We went down the creek, fifteen or twenty 
miles, when we suddenly came to a waterfall where the 
water dropped straight down about forty or fifty rods. 
There was no way for us to get down. We then thought the 
people who made the path, had to climb the mountains. We 
Looked up on our righl hand and could see the dirt crum- 
bling oul from between the rocks, it was straight up. We 
saw there was no show to go up on that side. We looked 
no on our left and could not see any dirt or rock crumbling 
off tins mountain. 

We concluded that they must have climbed up over this 
mountain to gel out. We started up. We could hardly 
keep from Palling backwards. We held to little vines or 
little fine brush which grew out from between the layers of 
rock. Finally, after we had gone up a distance of perhaps 
a couple of miles, we could see above us a shelf of rock 
extending out over our heads. It then dawned upon us that 
the path we had followed down the creek, had been made 



Prospecting for Gold — Some Hard Experiences : r -'> 

by people who had come that far and were compelled 1<» go 
back and that no one had ever gone up this mountain. 

We looked as far as we could sec each way, but that 
shelf of rock stood out over our heads from three to six or 
eight feet. We were sure that when we got up to that shelf, 
we could not get over it, neither could we go back down 
again; for one can go up when one can see where to stick 
their toes, but cannot see to go down without falling. We 
began to think we were where we could not get away alive. 
We looked off to our left and saw one place in this shelf 
that was narrower than the rest, and we concluded to make 
for that place with the possibility that we might be able 
to break off some of the rock and get above. It was 
still a good ways up from where we were. We made for 
the narrow shelf, but when we got there, the rock was so 
hard that we could not pierce it with our picks, but the 
mountain was not quite so steep under this piece of shelf. 
My brother said to me : 

"If you will pick in the side of the mountain and stick 
your toes in so you will have a good foothold, and hold 
against my back with my shovel, and two of the other men, 
one on each side of me, fix their feet so they can lift me <>n 
their picks while I hold to the shelf, 1 will try and see how 
it looks above." 

Two of our strongest men lifted him on their picks while 
I held against his back with the shovel until he was high 
enough to look above the shelf. 

'"The mountain," he said, "is not steep above here, and 
it is not far to the top, if we could only get over this shelf. 
Let me put one foot on one pick and the other foot on the 
other pick and you fellows lift me up as high as you can. 
Wash, you hold against my back and if 1 can get a little 
farther up, I can catch some brush and pull myself up over 
the shelf." They lifted and 1 held him to the shelf, 

while he climbed up over it. We peached him a shovel and 
a pick. He (lug a good place in which to set his feet, and 



Jj.Jf A Trip to California in 1853 

then reached the shovel over the bench, for one of the boys 
to catch hold. We Lifted one of the boys, while Crawford 
pulled him up. We kept this process up until all were up 
hut one We Left the lightest one to the last. He was 
down where he couldn't sec any of us and he got scared 
and trembled and claimed that he did not believe he could 
hold to the shovel for us to draw him up. We dug holes 
to set our heels in and then held others by the feet so they 
could look down over the shelf and see and talk to him. 
lie was pale and greatly frightened. I got some of the men 
to hold me by the feet while I encouraged him. 1 told him 
to lake a good hold of the shovel and as soon as he came 
to where 1 was and got him by the arm, he could count him- 
self safe. 1 don't believe that there ever was a white man 
or an Indian, who ever went up that mountain before, nor 
since the last man we got up. 

About two miles from where we got on the top of the 
mountain, we came to a mining town, called Poor Man's Dig- 
gings. We could not gel work there. We prospected for a 
few days, I nt could find no gold, although there were a 
good many good, paying claims belonging to other men. We 
left there and went to what was called American Valley, 
where a man struck *a rich claim. This was called a rich 
claim, because it would pay one hundred dollars or over to 
the hand a day. We tried to hire out and work by the 
day. but they had all the hands they could work. Every- 
where up north, they paid a man at least five dollars a day. 

We left the American Valley country, which was on the 
headwaters of the Feather River, and struck for the Sacra- 
mento River Valley. We thought we might find work on a 
ranch. 

We went down to Marysville. The Uba River enters the 
Sacramento below .Marysville and the Feather River above. 
Panning was all done when we got down there, so we could 
not find work. We then struck for Sacramento City. As 
a fellow would say. we were getting "aboul strapped," that 



Prospecting for Gold — Some Hard Experiences 4$ 

is, running short of money. We walked from Marysville to 
the American River bridge one night, about fifty miles. We 
ate breakfast there, walked twenty miles up the American 
River and about three o'clock that day, hired to work for 
the next morning at two dollars and seventy-five cents per 
day, and board ourselves. I worked for a man by the name 
of Stewart. 1 was to work two weeks, but I worked ten 
days. 

We went from here back to Fair Play, from where we 
had started. We stayed there until November. The weather 
kept dry — had no rain, so Uncle Joshua came to us and 
wanted us to work for him on a ranch in the Sacramento 
Valley, above the city of Sacramento something like three 
hundred miles, between the towns of Tehama and Red Bluffs. 
We worked for him ten months at fifty dollars a month. 

My brother got sick and went to the mountains and I 
worked one month for a man by the name of David Jorden 
and his partner, Joseph Moran, in a brick yard, for fifty 
dollars. When uncle paid us, and I received my pay for 
working at the brick yard, I went to my brother, sixty miles 
southeast of Sacramento, to a mining town called Volcano. 

We remained in Volcano for about two weeks. We then 
went to Sacramento. From there we took a steamboat to 
SanFrancisco, where we stayed for two weeks. We 1 lien got 
on a steamship and sailed for Panama. We landed once a1 
a town in Mexico, called Acapuco, to take on beef cattle. We 
were four day on the way from S;m Francisco to Panama. 
We remained in Panama one night, and then took a train 
and crossed the isthmus by railroad, which was the first rail- 
road train I ever saw. 

The next (lay we arrived at Aspinwall, now called < '(don, 
where we stayed until the next day, when we boarded a ship 
bound for New York. We were nine days on the way from 
Aspinwall, or Colon, to New York City. We then took a 
steamboat and went up the Hudson River to Albany, where 



. ./ Trip to California in 1853 

we took a train to Buffalo; from there to Cleveland, Ohio; 
to Indianapolis, and then to baFayette, hid. 1 then went to 
inv home in Fountain County, and later came to Cheney's 
Grove, Illinois, on horse back. I landed at Cheney's Grove 
on New Y"ear's Day, 1856. 



ERRATA 



— Page 5, 2nd paragraph, "Peter House" should read, 
"Peter Hughs." Tn next lino, "John Feril" should read 
"John Teril. " Likewise same name in 1st line, 2nd para- 
graph, page 19. 

— Page 18, 1st paragraph, should read, "We trailed west- 
ward across the Pacific Springs toward the Bear River." 
Also 3rd sentence, " When northeast of Sail Lake City"etc. 

— Page 28, lasl paragraph, should read, '"Hold on to 
them, boys," uncle said, "Hold on to them." I holloed 
back, "St.irt up the fires so we can see where to come," 
and the fifes lii up mighty quick.' 

— Page 45, 3rd paragraph, 6th sentence, should read "We 
were 'fourteen' days on the way from s.-m Francisco to 
Panama." 



APPENDIX 



APPENDIX 



The foregoing chapters conclude the excellent narrative 
concerning the remarkable trip of Mr. Bailey to California 
from 1853 to 1856. Mr. Bailey also kindly consented to give 
for publication in the LeRoy Journal, a description of the 
gold regions and the crude methods of mining practiced in 
that early day, which is placed in this volume as a brief 
appendix. His comments were as follows: 

1 will now give yon a description of the gold region where 
gold was found, where 1 traveled and where I mined. 

The McCosma River headed up toward the summit of the 
Sierra Nevada Mountains toward the northeast and runs a 
lit lie southwest init il it empties into the Sacramento River. 
Gold was found in what were called bars, that is, where rock, 
gravel and sand had Lodged on either side, or across the 
river. Some of these bars would he very rich in gold. 

There were, also, what were called gulches, running out 
from the river on either side. They often headed the valleys. 
These gulches ran out between mountains and when they 
headed pretty well up toward the top of a large mountain, 
that divided the rivers, into what were called ravines. All 
of these ravines would have gold in them. The bed rock 
would raise up on both sides and the lowest place in this 
bed rock, was called the lead. Some would he richer in 
gold than others, taking the name of rich lead or poor lead. 
Often there were places up on the sides of the mountains 
where the bed rock was almost hare, and in these places were 
cracks or seams down in the lied rock, where the gold would 
he found mixed with sand and dirt. 

When the lirst miners came, they did not know how to 



Append i. i 4$ 

save the gold and they had no tools to work with. They 
used their jaekknives to dig the gold out of these crevises 
and earried it in their pans to where there was water and 
washed out the dirt and sand. When the miners had picks 
and shovels, they made rockers. They were made just like 
the rocking beds of the old fashioned kind to rock babies in, 
only one end was out, except about two inches at the bot- 
tom, for what they called a riffle, to lodge the gold against. 
They put another of these riffles up higher in the rocker for 
the same purpose. They made a box four square that set on 
top of this rocker with a sheet iron bottom with round holes 
punched in it to let the gold and sand through. They would 
then fill this box with pay dirt, dip water from the creek or 
river, and pour it in on the pay dirt with one hand and rock 
with the other. They Would then gather up the gold and 
what little sand remained from behind the riffles, place it in 
their pans and wash it out, leaving nothing but the gold and 
some black sand. 

Another plan used and a better and faster method, was 
to use what they called the long torn. This was made of 
plank on the sides about six feet long and three feet wide. 
The planks were cut curved on the lower end, so that the 
sheet iron with the holes in it, would turn upward. The 
upper end of the torn, was made of planks sawed sloping 
and drawn in until it was wide enough to lay their water 
hose in, which furnished the water for washing. 

When they washed the gold with pans, they would throw 

all the top dirt away until they got down deep enough to 

find it sufficiently rich to pay, then they would pan out the 
rest of the dirt to the bed rock. 

When we mined in California, we washed with sluice boxes, 

whenever we could gel plenty of water. Sluice boxes were 
made by sawing the bottom hoard two inches narrower at 
one end than at the other so we could place the end of every 
box in the upper end of the next box. We had slats nailed 



,')() .1 Trip to California in 1853 

across the top <>!' the boxes to keep them from spreading. 
There were shits for riffles, two and a half or three inches 
wide Tilted down tight on the bottom, for the gold to lodge 
against. The gold, with the sand and dirt would then be 
removed and panned out as in the other methods mentioned 
above. 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 




003 410 336 7 4 






